This Could Be Our Year

All Eyes On Me -- Wilson's first training camp as the starter

With the Seattle Seahawks 2013 training camps already in progress, the clamoring for the NFL season to get underway has reached a fever pitch-- especially here in the Pacific Northwest.

Seahawks fans are preparing themselves for the most anticipated season of their existence.  Never before has their been this much offseason hype surrounding our team.

Between the attention brought on by odds-makers picking Seattle as Super Bowl favorites, Richard Sherman's upcoming Sports Illustrated cover,  Russell Wilson's appearance on numerous Top Ten lists, the ongoing Jim Harbaugh feud, Vernon Davis' acknowledgement of the Seahawks dynasty and the acquisition of high-profile free agents-- there is no shortage of reasons to have the highest of hopes for our team this year.

However, as Seattle sports fans, there's a lingering pessimism that has been ingrained in us over the years.

Some of us have it more than others, but it exists, to some degree in all of us. After all, our beloved basketball team of 41 years was stolen from us and we were subsequently used as pawns to push Sacramento into getting their shit together, we were admittedly jobbed by the officiating in Super Bowl XL and our Marniers, despite having a 1995 riddled with future Hall-of-Famers, remains one of only two MLB teams to have never appeared in a World Series.

I could go on endlessly about the mishaps and misadventures of Seattle sports fandom-- but it would likely drive me into depression.

So these questions have begun to emerge in our minds, on the airwaves and in the pages of blogs like this one that reflect this inevitable doubt that anything great will ever happen to our sports franchises. Questions like "Will Russell Wilson have a sophomore slump?" , "Will teams get wise to Wilson now that they have a year of game film?",  "Can Seattle overcome their hellish road schedule?", "Will Marshawn Lynch continue to carry this team now that he has another year of taking a pounding in the books?" and other doomsday scenarios that this period of NFL inactivity takes it's toll on our collective psyche.

I've said it many times before on this blog-- I'm an eternal Seahawks optimist. I will admit that I have some concerns, but there is just too much to be excited about for me to dwell on those things.

My advice: enjoy every second of this season.

Let this be the year you go from fan to super fan-- go to a game, buy a jersey, have friends over for one of the prime time games, sign up for fantasy football, follow blogs like this daily and submerge yourself in everything Seahawks this season.

No one can guarantee you a Seahawks Super Bowl win, a deep playoff run, a division title or any other accolades that are certainly within reach for our team-- but it's going to be an exciting year.  That, I will guarantee you!